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Thursday, February 24, 2011

An Uncommon Act of Courage

An Uncommon Act of Courage

After consulting with their doctors, a mother and father are told that their gravely ill daughter needs an immediate blood transfusion to save her life today and to be able to continue her treatment. The best donor the doctors say, is her five year old brother.

The boy is terrified of hospitals and of the needles and tubes that he’s seen his ailing sister confront daily. The parents know that his blood transfusion is imperative and are concerned that he will balk at the request because of fear. No one wants to hold the five year old boy down and take his blood from him.

So, the parents sit him down as his pale sister lay helplessly in her hospital bed. They explain more exactly than before the seriousness of her condition and how he uniquely can give her his blood and a chance at life anew. He listens to them intently, his brow furrowed in worry.

After a moment of silence, he looks at his parents and says, “Are you sure that if I give her my blood she’ll survive?”

“It gives her the best chance to live, son,” his father replies.

He looks at the ground, crosses and uncrosses his legs, looks back at his parents and says solemnly, “O.K., I’ll do it.”

The medical staff quickly readies the room and the boy is placed on a bed not far from his weakened sister, who thanks him from the moment he walks in. He only nods that he hears her, readying himself for the transfusion.

The doctors pierce his arm and begin the transfusion. As the life-giving blood flows into his sister, her color immediately improves and the parents smile a smile of relief.

After sometime the little boy, his face still a display of worry, looks up at the doctor who is checking his improving sister and asks, “Doctor, how long until I die?”

The boy had assumed he was giving her all his blood, yet was willing to do so.